As the children become more and more interested in learning to draw with me, during the last month the kids at Mad Hatter's covered various conservation subjects. Still, the workshop on plastic pollution was one of the most memorable of all. Whilst he was drawing, I asked a little boy what happens when plastic goes into the sea, and he said, 'The animals will eat it, then they'll sink, and then they'll die.' Straight to the point, I thought, and about right too.
We then went onto discuss the ideas of recycling, reusing and reducing and he showed me a picture he'd been glueing together made from old bits of plastic. He then ran over to the recycling bin and pointed to it telling me that this is where plastic should go. Well done, James. We will talk more about which types of plastic should go in the big recycling bins at the larger supermarkets, as well as things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as the children get a bit older.
The consensus is that usually little girls are more likely to sit down and colour in, but what I'm finding - and what the nursery staff are also observing - is that little boys are also super keen to sketch at the easel with me too, not just the girls. It is lovely to see this as creativity is so beneficial to children's development, not only in understanding how we can care for, and respect the environment, but also in learning about life in general through their artwork.
